Device, method, and program

ABSTRACT

A device, includes: a touch screen display; and a controller configured to, when the touch screen display detects that a physical body has moved in a predetermined direction while contacting with the touch screen display, cause an object on which a text is inputtable to be displayed on a screen displayed on the touch screen display along a trajectory of the moving.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application is a National Stage of PCT international applicationSer. No. PCT/JP2014/061606 filed on Apr. 24, 2014 which designates theUnited States, incorporated herein by reference, and which is based uponand claims the benefit of priority from Japanese Patent Application No.2013-093778 filed on Apr. 26, 2013, the entire contents of which areincorporated herein by reference.

FIELD

The present application relates to a device, a method, and a program.

BACKGROUND

A touch screen device equipped with a touch screen is known. The touchscreen device includes, for example, a smartphone and a tablet. Thetouch screen device detects a gesture of a finger, a pen, or a styluspen through the touch screen. The touch screen device operates accordingto the detected gesture. An example of an operation according to thedetected gesture is described, for example, International PublicationPamphlet No. WO 2008/086302.

A basic operation of the touch screen device is implemented by anoperating system (OS) installed in a device. Examples of an OS installedin the touch screen device include, but are not limited to, Android (aregistered trademark), BlackBerry (a registered trademark) OS, iOS,Symbian (a registered trademark) OS, and Windows (a registeredtrademark) Phone.

SUMMARY

A device according to an embodiment comprises: a touch screen display;and a controller configured to, when the touch screen display detectsthat a physical body has moved in a predetermined direction whilecontacting with the touch screen display, cause an object on which atext is inputtable to be displayed on a screen displayed on the touchscreen display along a trajectory of the moving.

A device according to an embodiment comprises: a touch screen display;and a controller configured to, when a swipe is performed on the touchscreen display, cause an object on which a text is inputtable to bedisplayed on a screen displayed on the touch screen display along atrajectory of the swipe.

A device according to an embodiment comprises: a touch screen display;and a controller configured to, when the touch screen display is traced,cause an object on which a text is inputtable to be displayed on ascreen displayed on the touch screen display in a traced region.

A method according to an embodiment is: a method of controlling a deviceincluding a touch screen display, comprising: detecting, by the touchscreen display, that a physical body has moved in a predetermineddirection while contacting with the touch screen display; and causing anobject on which a text is inputtable to be displayed on a screendisplayed on the touch screen display along a trajectory of the detectedmoving.

A program according to an embodiment is: a computer program producthaving computer instructions, stored on a non-transitory computerreadable storage medium, for enabling a computer of a device including atouch screen display executing the computer instructions to performoperations comprising: detecting, by the touch screen display, that aphysical body has moved in a predetermined direction while contactingwith the touch screen display; and causing an object on which a text isinputtable to be displayed on a screen displayed on the touch screendisplay along a trajectory of the detected moving.

According to the present invention, it is possible to provide a device,a method, and a program in which usability is improved.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a perspective view illustrating an external appearance of asmartphone according to an embodiment of some embodiments.

FIG. 2 is a front view illustrating an external appearance of asmartphone according to an embodiment of some embodiments.

FIG. 3 is a back view illustrating an external appearance of asmartphone according to an embodiment of some embodiments.

FIG. 4 is a view illustrating an exemplary home screen of a smartphoneaccording to an embodiment of some embodiments.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram illustrating a function of a smartphoneaccording to an embodiment of some embodiments.

FIG. 6 is a view illustrating a first example of control performed by asmartphone according to an embodiment of some embodiments.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart illustrating a processing procedure of controlperformed by a smartphone according to an embodiment of someembodiments.

FIG. 8 is a view illustrating a process of inputting a text onto a memoobject according to an embodiment of some embodiments.

FIG. 9A is a view illustrating a second example of control performed bya smartphone according to an embodiment of some embodiments.

FIG. 9B is a view illustrating a second example of the control performedby a smartphone according to an embodiment of some embodiments.

FIG. 10 is a view illustrating a third example of control performed by asmartphone according to an embodiment of some embodiments.

FIG. 11A is a view illustrating a fourth example of control performed bya smartphone according to an embodiment of some embodiments.

FIG. 11B is a view illustrating the fourth example of the controlperformed by a smartphone according to an embodiment of someembodiments.

FIG. 12 is a view illustrating a fifth example of control performed by asmartphone according to an embodiment of some embodiments.

FIG. 13 is a view illustrating a sixth example of control performed by asmartphone according to an embodiment of some embodiments.

DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS

Hereinafter, an exemplary embodiment of some embodiments will bedescribed in detail with reference to the appended drawings. In thefollowing description, a smartphone is described as an example of adevice equipped with a touch screen.

An Embodiment

An overall configuration of a smartphone 1 according to an embodimentwill be described with reference to FIGS. 1 to 3. The smartphone 1includes a housing 20 as illustrated in FIGS. 1 to 3. The housing 20includes a front face 1A, a back face 1B, and side faces 1C1 to 1C4. Thefront face 1A is a front face of the housing 20. The back face 1B is aback face of the housing 20. The side faces 1C1 to 1C4 are side facesconnecting the front face 1A with the back face 1B. In the followingdescription, there are cases in which the side faces 1C1 to 1C4 arereferred to collectively as a “side face 1C” without specifying aspecific face.

The smartphone 1 includes a touch screen display 2, buttons 3A to 3C, anilluminance sensor 4, a proximity sensor 5, a receiver 7, a microphone8, and a camera 12 on the front face 1A. The smartphone 1 includes aspeaker 11 and a camera 13 on the back face 1B. The smartphone 1includes buttons 3D to 3F and a connector 14 on the side face 1C. In thefollowing description, there are cases in which the buttons 3A to 3F arereferred to collectively as a “button 3” without specifying a certainbutton.

The touch screen display 2 includes a display 2A and a touch screen 2B.The display 2A is equipped with a display device such as a liquidcrystal display (LCD), an organic electro-luminescence (EL) panel, or aninorganic EL panel. The display 2A displays a text, an image, a symbol,or a diagram.

The touch screen 2B detects, for example, a contact of a finger, a pen,or a stylus pen with the touch screen 2B. The touch screen 2B can detecta position at which a plurality of fingers, pens, stylus pens, or thelike contacts with the touch screen 2B.

A detection method of the touch screen 2B may be an arbitrary methodsuch as a capacitive method, a resistive method, a surface acoustic wave(SAW) (an ultrasonic method), an infrared method, an electromagneticinduction method, or a load detection method. Hereinafter, in order tosimplify a description, there are cases in which a finger, a pen, astylus pen, and the like whose contact is detected through the touchscreen 2B are referred to simply as a “finger.”

The smartphone 1 determines a type of gesture based on at least one of acontact detected by the touch screen 2B, a position at which a contactis detected, an interval at which a contact is detected, and the numberof contact detections. A gesture is an operation performed on the touchscreen 2B. Examples of the gesture determined by the smartphone 1include, but are not limited to, a touch, a long touch, a release, aswipe, a tap, a double tap, a long tap, a drag, a flick, a pinch-in, anda pinch-out.

The “touch” is a gesture in which the finger touches the touch screen2B. The smartphone 1 determines a gesture in which the finger contactswith the touch screen 2B as the touch. The smartphone 1 determines agesture in which a single finger contacts with the touch screen 2B as asingle touch. The smartphone 1 determines a gesture in which a pluralityof fingers contacts with the touch screen 2B as a multi-touch. Thesmartphone 1 detects the number of fingers whose contact is detected inthe case of multi-touch. The “long touch” is a gesture in which thefinger touches the touch screen 2B during a predetermined period of timeor more. The smartphone 1 determines a gesture in which the fingercontacts with the touch screen 2B during a predetermined period of timeor more as the long touch.

The “release” is a gesture in which the finger is separated from thetouch screen 2B. The smartphone 1 determines a gesture in which thefinger is separated from the touch screen 2B as the release. The “swipe”is a gesture in which the finger moves while contacting with the touchscreen 2B. The smartphone 1 determines a gesture in which the fingermoves while contacting with the touch screen 2B as the swipe.

The “tap” is a gesture that the release is performed subsequently to thetouch. The smartphone 1 determines a gesture in which the release isperformed subsequently to the touch as the tap. The “double tap” is agesture in which the gesture in which the release is performedsubsequently to the touch is consecutively performed twice. Thesmartphone 1 determines a gesture in which the gesture in which therelease is performed subsequently to the touch is consecutivelyperformed twice as the double tap.

The “long tap” is a gesture in which the release is performedsubsequently to the long touch. The smartphone 1 determines a gesture inwhich the release is performed subsequently to the long touch as thelong tap. The “drag” is a gesture in which the swipe is performedstarting from a region on which a movable object is being displayed. Thesmartphone 1 determines a gesture in which the swipe is performedstarting from a region on which a movable object is being displayed asthe drag.

The “flick” is a gesture in which the release is performed while movingthe finger in one direction subsequently to the touch. The smartphone 1determines a gesture in which the release is performed while moving thefinger in one direction subsequently to the touch as the flick. A movingspeed of the flick is faster than moving speeds of the swipe and thedrag. Examples of the flick include, but are not limited to, an “upperflick” in which the finger moves in an upward direction of the screen, a“lower flick” in which the finger moves in a downward direction of thescreen, a “right flick” in which the finger moves in a right directionof the screen, a “left flick” in which the finger moves in a leftdirection of the screen, an “oblique upper left flick” in which thefinger moves in an oblique upper left direction of the screen, an“oblique lower left flick” in which the finger moves in an oblique lowerleft direction of the screen, an “oblique upper right flick” in whichthe finger moves in an oblique upper right direction of the screen, andan “oblique lower right flick” in which the finger moves in an obliquelower right direction of the screen.

The “pinch-in” is a gesture in which a plurality of fingers swipe in anapproaching direction. The smartphone 1 determines a gesture in which aplurality of fingers swipe in an approaching direction as the pinch-in.The “pinch-out” is a gesture in which a plurality of fingers swipe in aseparating direction. The smartphone 1 determines a gesture in which aplurality of fingers swipe in a separating direction as the pinch-out.

The smartphone 1 performs the operation according to the gesturedetermined through the touch screen 2B. Thus, operability in which theuser can use the smartphone 1 intuitively and easily is implemented. Anoperation performed according to a determined gesture by the smartphone1 differs according to a screen displayed on the display 2A.Hereinafter, in order to simplify a description, there are cases inwhich an expression “the smartphone 1 detects X” or “a controllerdetects X” is used to mean an expression “the touch screen 2B detects acontact, and the smartphone 1 determines a type of gesture to be X basedon the detected contact.”

An exemplary screen displayed on the display 2A will be described withreference to FIG. 4. FIG. 4 illustrates an exemplary home screen. Thehome screen is also referred to as a “desktop” or an “idle screen.” Thehome screen is displayed on the display 2A. The home screen is a screenin which the user selects an application to be executed amongapplications installed in the smartphone 1. The smartphone 1 executes anapplication selected on the home screen on the foreground. A screen ofthe application executed on the foreground is displayed on the display2A.

In the smartphone 1, an icon may be arranged on the home screen. Aplurality of icons 50 are arranged on a home screen 40 illustrated inFIG. 4. Each of the icons 50 is associated with an application installedin the smartphone 1 in advance. Upon detecting the gesture on the icon50, the smartphone 1 executes the application associated with the icon50. For example, upon detecting the tap on the icon 50 associated with amail application, the smartphone 1 executes the mail application.

The icon 50 includes an image and a character string. The icon 50 mayinclude a symbol or a diagram instead of an image. The icon 50 mayinclude neither an image nor a character string. The icons 50 may bearranged based on an arrangement pattern. Wallpaper 41 is displayed onthe back of the icon 50. The wallpaper is also called a photo screen ora back screen. The smartphone 1 can use an arbitrary image as thewallpaper 41. An arbitrary image may be decided as the wallpaper 41according to a setting performed by the user.

The smartphone 1 may increase the number of home screens 40. Forexample, the smartphone 1 may decide the number of home screens 40according to a setting performed by the user. When there is a pluralityof home screens 40, the smartphone 1 causes a selected home screen to bedisplayed on the display 2A.

The smartphone 1 displays a locator 51 including one or more symbols onthe home screen 40. The number of symbols is equal to the number of homescreens 40. The locator 51 indicates the home screen 40 that iscurrently being displayed. In the locator 51, a symbol corresponding tothe home screen 40 that is currently being displayed is displayed in adifferent from the other symbols.

In an example illustrated in FIG. 4, the locator 51 including threesymbols is displayed. This indicates that the number of home screens 40is 3. Each of the three symbols has a circular shape. In an exampleillustrated in FIG. 4, a symbol at the left end is displayed in adifferent form from the other symbols. In other words, the symbolsexcept the symbol at the left end are displayed as a circular rim, butthe symbol at the left end is displayed in a form in which the inside ofthe circular rim is filled. This indicates that the home screen 40 atthe left end is currently being displayed on the display 2A.

Upon detecting a gesture in a crosswise direction while the home screen40 is being displayed, the smartphone 1 switches the home screen 40displayed on the display 2A according to the gesture. For example, upondetecting the right flick, the smartphone 1 switches the home screen 40displayed on the display 2A to the next home screen 40 on the left. Forexample, upon detecting the left flick, the smartphone 1 switches thehome screen 40 displayed on the display 2A to the next home screen 40 onthe right. A process in which the smartphone 1 switches the home screen40 in the crosswise direction according to the flick gesture in thecrosswise direction will be described in detail later. When the homescreen 40 is switched in the crosswise direction, the smartphone 1updates a display of the locator 51 according to the position of theswitched home screen 40.

A region 42 is disposed on the top of the display 2A. A remaining levelmark 43 indicating a remaining battery level and a radio level mark 44indicating field strength of a radio wave for communication aredisplayed on the region 42. The smartphone 1 may display a time,weather, an application being executed, a type of communication system,a phone call status, a device mode, an event occurring in a device, orthe like on the region 42. As described above, the region 42 are used togiven various kinds of notifications to the user. The region 42 maydisposed on a screen other than the home screen 40. The position atwhich the region 42 is disposed is not limited to the top of the display2A.

A vertical direction of the home screen 40 is a direction based on avertical direction of a text or an image displayed on the display 2A.Thus, a side of the home screen 40 close to the region 42 in alongitudinal direction of the touch screen display 2 is an upper side ofthe home screen 40, and a side of the home screen 40 far from the region42 is a lower side of the home screen 40. A side of the region 42 atwhich the radio level mark 44 is displayed is a right side of the homescreen 40, and a side of the region 42 at which the remaining level mark43 is displayed is a left side of the home screen 40. The smartphone 1decides, for example, the oblique upper left direction, the obliquelower right direction, the left direction, and the right direction ofthe home screen 40 based on the vertical direction of the text or theimage displayed on the home screen 40.

The home screen 40 illustrated in FIG. 4 is an example, and forms ofvarious kinds of elements, an arrangement of various kinds of elements,the number of home screens 40, and various kinds of operation methods onthe home screen 40 may be different from those described above.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of the smartphone1. The smartphone 1 includes the touch screen display 2, the button 3,the illuminance sensor 4, the proximity sensor 5, a communication unit6, the receiver 7, the microphone 8, a storage 9, a controller 10, thespeaker 11, the cameras 12 and 13, the connector 14, an accelerationsensor 15, a direction sensor 16, and a gyroscope 17.

The touch screen display 2 includes the display 2A and the touch screen2B as described above. The display 2A displays a text, an image, asymbol, a diagram, or the like. The touch screen 2B detects a contact.The controller 10 detects a gesture on the smartphone 1. The controller10 detects an operation (gesture) on the touch screen 2B (the touchscreen display 2) in collaboration with the touch screen 2B.

The button 3 is operated by the user. The button 3 includes the buttons3A to 3F. The controller 10 detects an operation on the button 3 incollaboration with the button 3. Examples of the operation on the button3 include, but are not limited to, a click, a double click, a tripleclick, a push, a multi-push.

The buttons 3A to 3C are, for example, a home button, a back button, anda menu button. The button 3D is, for example, a power on/off button ofthe smartphone 1. The button 3D may function as a sleep/wake-up buttonas well. The buttons 3E and 3F are, for example, volume buttons.

The illuminance sensor 4 detects illuminance. The illuminance indicatesintensity, brightness, or luminance of light. For example, theilluminance sensor 4 is used to adjust luminance of the display 2A. Theproximity sensor 5 detects the presence of a nearby physical body in anon-contact manner. For example, the proximity sensor 5 detects that thetouch screen display 2 has gotten closer to a face. The illuminancesensor 4 and the proximity sensor 5 may be configured as a singlesensor.

The communication unit 6 performs wireless communication. Acommunication scheme performed by the communication unit 6 is a wirelesscommunication standard. As the wireless communication standard, thereare cellular communication standards such as 2G, 3G, and 4Gcommunication standards, for example. Examples of the cellularcommunication standard include, but are not limited to, long termevolution (LTE), wideband code division multiple access (W-CDMA),CDMA2000, personal digital cellular (PDC), global system for mobilecommunications (GSM (a registered trademark)), and personal handy-phonesystem (PHS). Examples of the wireless communication standard include,but are not limited to, worldwide interoperability for microwave access(WiMAX), IEEE802.11, Bluetooth (a registered trademark), infrared dataassociation (IrDA), and near field communication (NFC). Thecommunication unit 6 may support one or more communication standardsdescribed above.

The receiver 7 and the speaker 11 output a sound signal transmitted fromthe controller 10 as a sound. For example, the receiver 7 is used tooutput a voice of a counterpart during a phone call. For example, thespeaker 11 is used to output a ring tone and music. One of the receiver7 and the speaker 11 may have a function of the other. The microphone 8converts a voice of the user into a voice signal, and transmits thevoice signal to the controller 10.

The storage 9 stores a program and data. The storage 9 is also used as awork region that temporarily stores a processing result of thecontroller 10. The storage 9 may include an arbitrary non-transitorystorage device such as a semiconductor memory device or a magneticstorage device. The storage 9 may include a plurality of types ofstorage devices. The storage 9 may include a combination of a portablestorage medium such as a memory card, an optical disk, or a magnetooptical disk and a storage medium reading device.

Examples of a program stored in the storage 9 include an applicationexecuted on the foreground or the background and a control program thatsupports an operation of an application. For example, the applicationcauses the screen to be displayed on the display 2A and causes thecontroller 10 to execute a process according to a gesture detectedthrough the touch screen 2B. The control program is, for example, an OS.The application and the control program may be installed in the storage9 through a wireless communication performed by the communication unit 6or a non-transitory storage medium.

The storage 9 stores, for example, a control program 9A, a mailapplication 9B, a browser application 9C, and setting data 9Z. The mailapplication 9B provides an e-mail function. For example, it is possibleto compose, transmit, receive, and display an e-mail through the e-mailfunction. The browser application 9C provides a web browsing function.For example, it is possible to display a web page and edit a bookmarkthrough the web browsing function. The setting data 9Z provides variouskinds of setting functions related to the operation of the smartphone 1.

The control program 9A provides a function related to various kinds ofcontrol for operating the smartphone 1. The control program 9A controls,for example, the communication unit 6, the receiver 7, the microphone 8,and the like such that a phone call is implemented. A function ofchanging the home screen 40 that is displayed according to the gestureis included as the function provided by the control program 9A. Thereare cases in which the function provided by the control program 9A isused in combination with a function provided by another program such asthe mail application 9B.

The controller 10 is an operational circuit. Examples of the operationalcircuit include, but are not limited to, a central processing unit(CPU), a system-on-a-chip (SoC), a micro control unit (MCU), or afield-programmable gate array (FPGA). The controller 10 integrallycontrols the operation of the smartphone 1 such that various kinds offunctions are implemented.

Specifically, the controller 10 executes a command included in theprogram stored in the storage 9 with reference to data stored in thestorage 9 as necessary. The controller 10 controls functional modulessuch as the display 2A and the communication unit 6 according to thedata and the command such that various kinds of functions areimplemented. There are cases in which the controller 10 changes controlaccording to a detection result of a detecting module. The functionalmodule includes the display 2A, the communication unit 6, the microphone8, and the speaker 11 but is not limited thereto. The detecting moduleincludes the touch screen 2B, the button 3, the illuminance sensor 4,the proximity sensor 5, the receiver 7, the camera 12, the camera 13,the acceleration sensor 15, the direction sensor 16, and the gyroscope17 but is not limited thereto.

The controller 10 executes, for example, the control program 9A andchanges the home screen 40 displayed according to the gesture.

The camera 12 is an in-camera that images a physical body facing thefront face 1A. The camera 13 is an out-camera that images a physicalbody facing the back face 1B.

The connector 14 is a terminal to which another device is connected. Theconnector 14 may be a general-purpose terminal such as a universalserial bus (USB) terminal, a high-definition multimedia interface (HDMI(a registered trademark)) terminal, a light peak (which may beThunderbolt (a registered trademark)) terminal, or an earphonemicrophone connector. The connector 14 may be a dedicated terminal suchas a dock connector. Examples of the device connected to the connector14 include, but are not limited to, an external storage, a speaker, anda communication device.

The acceleration sensor 15 detects a direction and a magnitude ofacceleration working on the smartphone 1. The direction sensor 16detects an orientation of geomagnetism. The gyroscope 17 detects anangle and an angular velocity of the smartphone 1. The detection resultsof the acceleration sensor 15, the direction sensor 16 and the gyroscope17 are combined and used in order to detect a change in a position andan attitude of the smartphone 1.

Some or all of the programs stored in the storage 9 in FIG. 5 may bedownloaded from another device through wireless communication performedby the communication unit 6. Some or all of the programs stored in thestorage 9 in FIG. 5 may be stored in a non-transitory storage mediumthat is readable by a reading device included in the storage 9. Some orall of the programs stored in the storage 9 in FIG. 5 may be stored in anon-transitory storage medium that is readable by a reading deviceconnected to the connector 14. Examples of the non-transitory storagemedium include, but are limited to, an optical disk such as a CD (aregistered trademark), a DVD (a registered trademark), or a Blu-ray (aregistered trademark), a magneto optical disk, and a memory card.

The configuration of the smartphone 1 illustrated in FIG. 5 is anexample and may be appropriately modified within the scope not departingfrom the gist of the present application. For example, the number andtypes of buttons 3 are not limited to those in an example of FIG. 5. Thesmartphone 1 may be equipped with buttons a ten-key arrangement or aQWERTY arrangement as buttons for an operation related to the screeninstead of the buttons 3A to 3C. The smartphone 1 may be equipped withone button for an operation related to the screen or may be equippedwith no button. In an example illustrated in FIG. 5, the smartphone 1 isequipped with two cameras, but the smartphone 1 may be equipped with onecamera or may be equipped with no camera. In an example illustrated inFIG. 5, the smartphone 1 is equipped with the three types of sensors fordetecting a position and an attitude, but the smartphone 1 may not beequipped with some of the sensors. Alternatively, the smartphone 1 maybe equipped with any other type of sensor for detecting at least one ofa position and an attitude.

A process performed by the smartphone 1 according to the gesture of theuser on the touch screen display 2 will be described below withreference to FIGS. 6 to 13.

FIG. 6 is a view illustrating a first example of control performed by asmartphone according to an embodiment. In FIG. 6, the user moves thefinger in the right direction in a state in which the finger contacts toa predetermined region nearby the left end of the home screen 40. Or,the user is tracing the surface of the touch screen display 2. At thistime, the controller 10 of the smartphone 1 detects the swipe.Specifically, the controller 10 detects the swipe performed in the rightdirection starting from the inside of the predetermined region near bythe left end of the home screen 40. Then, when the user moves the fingerin the right direction, the controller 10 causes a memo object 55 to bedisplayed on the home screen 40 according to the trajectory of themoving. The memo object 55 is an object having a tag shape. The memoobject 55 is displayed as if a portion thereof positioned at the leftend side of the home screen 40 serving as the starting point of theswipe is attached to the home screen 40. The memo object 55 is displayedcorresponding to a region traced by the user.

The predetermined region nearby the left end of the home screen 40 is,for example, a region between the left end of the home screen 40 and aposition that is away from the left end of the home screen 40 by alength of one twentieth ( 1/20) of the length of the home screen 40 inthe lateral direction. A position and an area size of the predeterminedregion can be appropriately set. For example, the predetermined regionmay be a region nearby any one of the right end, the lower end, or theupper end of the home screen 40.

When the memo object 55 is displayed on the home screen 40, thecontroller 10 may display the memo object 55 such that the memo object55 gradually increases in length (gradually extends) while following thefinger of the user while the swipe is being performed. The controller 10may not display the memo object 55 while the swipe is being performed,and instead, when the swipe ends, that is, when the finger of the useris detected to have been separated from the touch screen 2B, thecontroller 10 may display the memo object 55 initially at that point intime. The controller 10 may set the length of the memo object 55 to beequal to the length of the trajectory of the swipe or may set the lengthof the memo object 55 to be smaller or larger than the length of thetrajectory of the swipe.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart illustrating a processing procedure of a firstexample of the control performed by a smartphone according to anembodiment.

At step S1, the controller 10 of the smartphone 1 detects the swipe.Subsequently, the controller 10 proceeds to step S2. At step S2, thecontroller 10 determines whether or not the starting point of thedetected swipe is within the region at the end of the home screen 40. Inan example illustrated in FIG. 6, the region at the end of the homescreen 40 is the region between the left end of the home screen 40 andthe position away from the left end of the home screen 40 by a length ofone twentieth ( 1/20) of the length of the home screen 40 in the lateraldirection. When the starting point of the detected swipe is determinedto be within the region at the end of the home screen 40 (Yes at stepS2), the controller 10 proceeds to step S3. When the starting point ofthe detected swipe is determined to be not within the region at the endof the home screen 40 (No at step S2), the controller 10 proceeds tostep S4.

At step S3, the controller 10 causes the memo object 55 to be displayedalong the trajectory of the swipe on the home screen 40. At step S4, thecontroller 10 changes the home screen 40 to another home screen.

Then, a process of inputting a text onto the memo object 55 will bedescribed with reference to FIG. 8. FIG. 8 is a view illustrating aprocess of inputting a text onto the memo object. When the memo object55 is displayed through the process illustrated in FIG. 6, thecontroller 10 of the smartphone 1 displays a text input screenillustrated at step S11 of FIG. 8 so that a text can be input onto thememo object 55. The text input screen includes a text input region 60and a keyboard 61. At step S11 of FIG. 8, an example in which the userinputs a character string “14:00 Shibuya” onto the text input region 60is illustrated.

Upon detecting the tap on the memo object 55 after the memo object 55 isdisplayed, the controller 10 may transition to the text input screen.The controller 10 may automatically transition to the text input screenwhile displaying the memo object 55 when the swipe ends, that is, whenthe finger of the user is detected to have been separated from the touchscreen 2B.

When an input of the text is decided, a degree of importance of the memoobject 55 may be set as illustrated at step S12 of FIG. 8. Of course,transition to a screen in which a degree of importance is set may not beperformed.

Then, when the input of the text is decided based on the operation ofthe user, and when a degree of importance of the memo object 55 is set,the controller 10 causes the memo object 55 to be displayed on the homescreen 40 at step S13 of FIG. 8. The text input to the text input region60 at step S11 of FIG. 8 is displayed on the memo object 55. At step S13of FIG. 8, the memo object 55 is displayed to overlap some of aplurality of icons 50 displayed on the home screen 40.

FIGS. 9A and 9B are views illustrating a second example of controlperformed by a smartphone according to an embodiment. The icon 50corresponding to the memo application is displayed on the home screen 40as illustrated in FIG. 9A. Further, the user moves the finger in theright direction in a state in which the finger contacts to the icon 50.At this time, the controller 10 of the smartphone 1 detects the swipe inthe right direction starting from the icon 50. Then, when the user movesthe finger in the right direction, the controller 10 causes the memoobject 55 to be displayed on the home screen 40 in the crosswisedirection along the trajectory of the moving. In FIG. 9A, the memoobject 55 is displayed to be drawn from the icon 50.

FIG. 9A illustrates an example in which the user performs the swipe inthe right direction from the icon 50 corresponding to the memoapplication, but the direction of the swipe is not limited thereto. InFIG. 9B, the user performs the swipe in the downward direction from theicon 50. Upon detecting the swipe in the downward direction startingfrom the icon 50, the controller 10 causes the memo object 55 that islong in the vertical direction to be displayed on the home screen 40along the trajectory of the swipe.

The controller 10 may decide whether the text can be written on the memoobject 55 vertically or horizontally according to the direction of theswipe. In other words, when the horizontally long memo object 55 isdisplayed as illustrated in FIG. 9A, the text may be writtenhorizontally on the text input region 60 of step S11 of FIG. 8, whereaswhen the vertically long memo object 55 is displayed as illustrated inFIG. 9B, the text may be written vertically on the text input region 60.

FIG. 10 is a view illustrating a third example of control performed by asmartphone according to an embodiment. At step S21 of FIG. 10, the userperforms the swipe in the left direction on a home screen 40 a on whicha memo object 55 a is displayed. The starting point of the swipe isnearby the center of the home screen 40 a rather than the inside of thepredetermined region at the end of the home screen 40 a. The controller10 determines that the starting point of the detected swipe is not theinside of the region at the end of the home screen 40 a as illustratedin the flowchart of FIG. 7, and changes the home screen 40 a to a homescreen 40 b that is a home screen on the right of the home screen 40 aas illustrated at step S22 of FIG. 10. At this time, the controller 10causes a different memo object 55 b from the memo object 55 a that isoriginally displayed to be displayed on the home screen 40 b.

As described above, the controller 10 associates the memo object 55 awith the home screen 40 a, and causes the associated memo object 55 b tobe displayed on the home screen 40 b displayed on the display 2A whenthe gesture for changing (or switching) the home screen 40 a isperformed. The controller 10 may cause the memo object 55 a to bedisplayed on the home screen 40 b, for example, when the gesture ofchanging (or switching) the home screen 40 a is performed in the statein which the tap on the memo object 55 a is detected. In other words,the controller 10 may change the home screen in a state in which thememo object 55 a is displayed.

FIGS. 11A and 11B are views illustrating a fourth example of controlperformed by a smartphone according to an embodiment. In FIG. 11A, whenthe memo object 55 is being displayed on the home screen 40, the userperforms the swipe on the region 42 in the downward direction. Upondetecting the swipe on the region 42, the controller 10 displays adrawer 420 while following the swipe. The drawer 420 is a region onwhich various information such as information indicating that there is anon-read mail and information indicating that an application has beenupdated. As illustrated in FIG. 11A, the controller 10 causes the memoobject 55 to be covered with the drawer 420 drawn from the region 42according to the swipe of the user, and thereafter causes the memoobject 55 to disappear when the user performs the swipe on the drawer420 in a direction (a direction for returning the drawn drawer 420 tothe region 42) facing the region 42. As a result, visibility of the homescreen 40 is secured.

After the memo object 55 disappears, when the user causes the drawer 420to be displayed again and then performs the gesture for returning thedrawer 420, the memo object 55 is displayed on the home screen 40 againas illustrated in FIG. 11B.

FIG. 12 is a view illustrating a fifth example of control performed by asmartphone according to an embodiment. At step S31 of FIG. 12, the userperforms the flick on the memo object 55 displayed on the home screen 40in the left direction. Upon detecting the flick performed on the memoobject 55 in the left direction, the controller 10 causes the memoobject 55 to be displayed on the home screen 40 so that a part of thememo object 55 extended from the end of the home screen 40 asillustrated at step S32 of FIG. 12. At step S31 of FIG. 12, for example,when “14:00 Shibuya” is input on the memo object 55 as illustrated atstep S13 of FIG. 8, “Shibu 14” may be displayed on a part of the memoobject 55 positioned at the end of the home screen 40 in the stateillustrated at step S32 of FIG. 12. In other words, when the memo object55 on which a predetermined character string is input transitions to thestate in which only a part thereof is displayed, the controller 10 maycause a part of the input character string to be displayed on the partof the memory object. As a result, the user can check the presence ofthe memo object while checking the visibility of the home screen 40, andthus the usability is improved.

FIG. 13 is a view illustrating a sixth example of control performed by asmartphone according to an embodiment. In FIG. 13, a lock screen 45 isdisplayed on the display 2A. The lock screen 45 is a screen disposed toprevent unauthorized use of the smartphone 1. The user performs theswipe on the lock screen 45 as illustrated in FIG. 13. Upon detectingthe swipe, the controller 10 causes the memo object 55 to be displayedon the lock screen 45 along the trajectory of the swipe.

Since the smartphone 1 can switch and display a plurality of homescreens 40 as described above with reference to FIG. 10, the controller10 can distinguish the swipe for switching the home screen 40 from theswipe for displaying the memo object 55 according to the flowchartillustrated in FIG. 7. However, since the lock screen 45 does notinclude a screen of a target switched by the swipe, the memo object 55may be displayed even when the starting point of the swipe is the centerof the lock screen in the state in which the lock screen 45 is displayedas illustrated in FIG. 13. In other words, the starting point of theswipe may not be a region at the end of the screen.

Further, when the tap on the memo object 55 is detected in the state inwhich the memo object 55 is displayed on the lock screen 45, and anunlocking operation is detected to have been performed, the controller10 may cause the memo object 55 displayed on the lock screen 45 to bedisplayed on the home screen 40.

As described above, when the swipe on the home screen 40 or the lockscreen 45 is performed, the smartphone 1 according to an embodimentdisplays the memo object 55 on which a text can be input along thetrajectory of the swipe. Thus, it is possible to cause a memo object onwhich information is displayable to be displayed on the home screenthrough an intuitive operation without activating a specificapplication, and thus usability is improved. The control of thesmartphone 1 according to an embodiment illustrated in FIG. 6 is smallerin the number of processes for arranging the memo object on the homescreen than a technique of tapping an icon arranged on the home screen,activating the memo application, and then arranging the memo object onthe home screen through a predetermined operation, and thus theusability of the user is improved.

According to the control illustrated in FIG. 9, it is possible togenerate the memo object starting from the memo application iconarranged on the home screen 40, and thus the user can easily arrange thememo object on the screen through the intuitive operation.

The smartphone 1 according to an embodiment is not limited to theabove-described control examples, and various embodiments areconsidered. For example, in above examples, information related to atime such as “14:00 Shibuya” is input onto the memo object 55. Thecontroller 10 of the smartphone 1 may cause the memo object 55 on whicha time has been input to disappear when the input time elapses asdescribed above. Alternatively, when an input time elapses, the memoobject 55 may be display in a form in which the memo object 55 is peeledoff from the screen, a form in which a color is dull, a form in whichthere is a crack, or a form in which it is folded. Thus, when the userinputs his/her schedule on the memo object 55, the user can be notifiedof that a schedule time has elapsed such that a display form of the memoobject 55 in which a schedule time has elapsed is changed as describedabove. As a result, the user who has been notified of can delete, forexample, the memo object 55 in which the time has elapsed.

Further, when the same or similar information as or to information inputonto a plurality of memo objects 55 is input, the controller 10 maycause the plurality of memo objects 55 to overlap at least a part ofboth pieces of information. Thus, the visibility of the home screen canbe secured.

Further, when the taps performed at two different points on the homescreen 40 or the lock screen 45 are detected, the controller 10 maydisplay the memo object 55. At this time, the length of the memo object55 may be equal to a distance between the two points at which the tap isdetected.

Further, when the swipe in the opposite direction to the swipe forgenerating the memo object 55 is performed on the memo object 55 asillustrated in FIG. 12, the controller 10 may delete the memo object 55.

1. A device, comprising: a touch screen display; and a controllerconfigured to, when the touch screen display detects that a physicalbody has moved in a predetermined direction while contacting with thetouch screen display, cause an object on which a text is inputtable tobe displayed on a screen displayed on the touch screen display along atrajectory of the moving.
 2. The device according to claim 1, whereinwhile a home screen is being displayed on the touch screen display, thecontroller causes the object to be displayed on the home screen when themoving starting from an inside of a region at an end of the home screenis detected, and changes the home screen being displayed to another homescreen when the moving starting from an outside of the region at the endof the home screen is detected.
 3. The device according to claim 1,wherein the controller causes a home screen on which a predeterminedicon is displayed to be displayed on the touch screen display, andcauses the object to be displayed on the home screen along thetrajectory of the moving starting from the icon when a contact of thephysical body to the predetermined icon is detected, and then thephysical body is detected to have moved in a predetermined direction ina contact state.
 4. The device according to claim 1, wherein thecontroller decides whether a text can be written on the objectvertically or horizontally according to a direction of the moving.
 5. Adevice, comprising: a touch screen display; and a controller configuredto, when a swipe is performed on the touch screen display, cause anobject on which a text is inputtable to be displayed on a screendisplayed on the touch screen display along a trajectory of the swipe.6. A device, comprising: a touch screen display; and a controllerconfigured to, when the touch screen display is traced, cause an objecton which a text is inputtable to be displayed on a screen displayed onthe touch screen display in a traced region.
 7. (canceled)
 8. (canceled)9. The device according to claim 2, wherein the controller decideswhether a text can be written on the object vertically or horizontallyaccording to a direction of the moving.
 10. The device according toclaim 3, wherein the controller decides whether a text can be written onthe object vertically or horizontally according to a direction of themoving.